Chair assembly



C. J. BARECKi CHAIR ASSEMBLY April 30 1968 Filed Jan. 5, 1967 R O m w m ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,380,778 CHAIR ASSElVIBLY Chester J. Barecki, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to American Seating Company, Grand Rapids, lVIich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 5, 1967, Ser. No. 607,515 2 Claims. (Cl. 297-451) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A chair assembly in which a pair of parallel spaced seat supports are in the form of channels having downwardly turned sides which are recessed to receive horizontal portions of leg members which have end portions turned downwardly to provide legs. Underlying the channels and leg members are horizontal portions of back supports. Resistance welds unite the channel sides to the top of the horizontal portions of the leg members and welds also unite the bottoms of side horizontal portions to the back supports. A tablet arm support has a horizontal portion united to the bottom of the back supports by welding. To increase the strength of the union between the channel sides and the leg members the recessed sides of the channels are provided with integral outwardly flared saddle flanges.

Background of the invention.

Chairs have heretofore been fabricated by bringing together tubular leg members and welding them to seat supports; also, tablet arms have been supported in front of the seat by extending a tubular arm downwardly below the seat supports and securing it to the seat supports. The present invention goes beyond such structures in providing a unique arrangement of the seat supports, leg members and back supports whereby these parts are strongly united by means of two resistance welds for each area where the leg member, seat support and back support come together. The structure is such that stacking may be accomplished after the removal of the tablet member.

Summary of the invention I have discovered that by employing channel seat supports which are recessed to receive the horizontal portion of leg members having their ends turned downwardly to provide legs and by extending the back support members underneath the seat supports and underneath the horizontal portions of the leg members, an extremely effective union can be accomplished by welds, one on the top of the leg member and the other at the bottom. Thus in a minimum of time the sides of the channel members can be united to the tops of the leg members and the bottom of the leg members can be united to the tops of the horizontal portions of the back supports. By a similar welding operation, the horizontal portion of a tablet support can be united to the bottom of the back support. The assembly of such a structure is improved by providing the channel sides with saddle flanges overlying the leg members. These and other objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds.

Patented Apr. 30, 1968 Brief description of the drawing The invention is shown, in a preferred embodiment, by the accompanying drawing in -which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a chair and tablet arm assembly illustrating my invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing a different form of tablet panel secured by a tablet support arm;

FIG. 3, a view similar to FIG. 2 'but showing the tablet panel removed;

FIG. 4, a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the seat rack removed;

FIG. 5, a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing a number of chairs in stacked relation; and

FIG. 6, a broken sectional detail view, the section being taken as indicated in line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

Description of the preferred embodiment In the illustration given in FIGS. 1-6, 10 designates leg member having a horizontal central portion 10a and downwardly turned end portions forming legs 10b. Channels 11 have side walls 12 which extend downwardly and are provided with recesses having outwardly turned integral flanges 13, the flanges being saddle-shaped and receiving the top portions of the horizontal portions 10a of the leg members 10.

Extending below channels 11 and underlying the horizontal leg portions are the horizontal portions 14a of the back support 14. A back member 15 of plastic or other material may be secured upon the back support 14. A seat member 16 of plastic or other suitable material may be secured upon the seat supports 11.

In assembling the parts, I employ a weld, such as a resistance weld, for uniting the saddle flange 13 to the top of the horizontal leg portion 10a, as shown best in FIG. 6. Also a resistance weld may be utilized for uniting the bottom of leg member 10a to the horizontal portion 14:: of the back support 14.

When a tablet arm 17 or 17a is employed, I use an arm support 18 having cross supports 19 and 20 to which the tablet panels may be secured by screws or other fastening means, and I extend the arm 18 downwardly and then in a horizontal plane underlying the back support portion 14a. A resistance weld may be used here also to unite the top of the horizontal portion of member 18 to the bottom of the back support 14a. In the assembly operation, the operator can quickly bring together and unite the leg members, seat and back supports, and also the tablet arm support.

If desired, the chair may be equipped with a book rack 21 Which is secured to the leg portions 10b, as shown best in FIGS. l3. For stacking, the book racks are omitted .and the tablets 17 and 17a removed, the chairs then being brought together, as shown in FIG. 5.

While in the foregoing specification, I have set out a specific embodiment of the invention in considerable detail for illustrating the invention, it will be understood that such details may be. varied widely by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a chair structure, .a pair of spaced seat supports consisting of channels each having downwardly-turned sides, a pair of leg members each having a horizontal portion underlying said seat supports and having end portions turned downwardly to provide chair legs, said channel sides being recessed to receive said horizontal leg portions and having integral outwardly-extending saddle flanges overlying the same, seat back supports vertically-aligned with and extending below said seat supports and horizontal leg member portions, and resistance welding uniting the horizontal portions of said leg members on one side to said saddle flanges and on the other side to said back supports.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which a chair back is carried by said back supports and a seat is carried by said seat supports.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner. 

